Monday, March 2, 2015

Pheaturing Andy Frasco

Hi there, everybody, welcome to a Monday entry of the Phile. How are you? I am feeling a lot better than yesterday. That's good, right? The mysterious street artist known only as Banksy has been leaving new pieces of art in various locations in the Gaza Strip. He offers an anecdote from his trip on his website: "A local man came up and said 'Please - what does this mean?' I explained I wanted to highlight the destruction in Gaza by posting photos on my website – but on the internet people only look at pictures of kittens." Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker caused some controversy when, during a speech delivered at the Conservative Political Action Conference, he seemed to liken union protesters to militant terrorists. "If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world," the presidential hopeful said in an obvious effort to prove to the conservative crowd that he can say silly things just as confidently as any Republican candidate. When Scott Walker stood up to unions, he really earned his mandatory salary voted for him by a collective fellowship of peers. Spirit Airlines... a low-cost travel carrier that will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever get my business ever, ever, ever, ever doesn't seem particularly concerned that former customers are unhappy with their experiences. "No one goes to Chick-fil-A and complains they can't get a burger. And people shouldn't come to Spirit if they want lots of legroom," CEO Ben Baldanza explained to the Wall Street Journal. FYI: Spirit Airlines full name is Damaging The Human Spirit Airlines. Senate Environment Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe threw a snowball on the U.S. Senate floor, thereby disproving the existence of piles upon piles of scientific evidence for global warming collected over the course of decades by countless climatologists. Check and mate, scientists! Actor Paul Reubens and producer Judd Apatow will be teaming up to create a new Pee-wee Herman film that will premiere on the streaming Internet service Netflix. “As a fan of Pee-wee Herman since he first appeared on "The Dating Game", I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the brilliant Paul Reubens on this film. It is a dream come true," Apatow said in a statement about the project. So, I have been mentioning this in the last few entries of the Phile, Disney is cashing in on that whole Fifty Shades of Grey thing by rereleasing some of it's classic animated movies with sex scenes. It's true. Check it out.

I wonder what Jasmine is listening to on her iPod. And is Aladdin riding her magic carpet if you k ow what I mean. Moving on... Speaking of Disney, last Monday I went to have dinner with my sister and her family at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge and you never guess what the giraffes were doing.

Everybody tells me as I love comic books and I'm such a geek that I should watch "The Big Bang Theory"on TV. I don't know if I would like it but after seeing this picture of one of the characters on the show I might give it a try.

Does she dress like that on the show? I listen to a lot of music in my spare time and one thing I noticed about indie music is...

It's true, right? So, did you ever read Facebook's terms and conditions? I did and thought it was rather particular.

Interesting.

If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. Okay, so, a few months ago the Maelstrom ride in Epcot's Norway pavilion closed down to make way for a Frozen themed ride. Well, for years in that ride there was a polar bear who was supposed to make the Guests scared but all he wanted to do was to be a stand up comedian. So, I invited him onto the Phile a few times to tell some jokes and he did pretty good but he is still unemployed. So, once again I thought I'd have him back here to tell some more jokes. So, please welcome back to the Phile...

Me: Hello, Petter, welcome back to the Phile. It's been awhile, how are you?

Me: Good job, Petter. Thanks for coming and I'll see you back here soon.

Petter: Takk, Jason, ha en fin dag.

It's 9:47 AM, 63°F and Kelly's new album comes out tomorrow!

Yes, I am gonna buy it. Alright, the 35th book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club is...

My good friend Jeff will be the guest on the Phile a week from today.

Today's pheatured guest is a musician and singer whose new album "Half A Man" is available on iTunes. He will be kicking off his 2015 tour on March 5th at the Lazy Dog in Boulder, Colorado. Please welcome to the Phile the very talented... Any Frasco.

Me: Hello, Andy, welcome to the Phile. How are you?

Andy: It's good to be here, Phile.

Me: I once interviewed a musician Megan Burtt here on the Phile and she recommended I interview you. I then checked out your album "Love, You're Just Too Expensive" from iTunes and really enjoyed it. Years later I finally have you here. Where and how did you first meet Megan and started working with her?

Andy: I met the lovely Megan Burtt while I was on the road. We shared the same bill together for a Homevibe Presents show in Denver at the Walnut Room. It only took one or two notes from her voice to know that I have to have her sing on this duet I wrote called "Main Squeeze." It's amazing when life just throws these lovely gifts at you when your not expected them.

Me: Are you from Colorado as well?

Andy: Nope, born and raised in Los Angeles but we come to Denver about 4-5 times a year (so I guess we kind of like it).

Me: You are an amazing piano player, Andy. How old were you when you first started to play piano?

Andy: Well, I appreciate you very much. I've only been playing music for about 9 years and started playing music when I was 19. I use book and manage bands at this indie label called, Drive Thru Records when I was 14. Was a huge music fan but was to stubborn to sit down and learn until my senior year of high school.

Me: You're into the blues, and your music has been called party blues. I had a few blues players on the Phile in the past, and they all talked about the blues but not one person has mentioned party blues. What is party blues?

Andy: Party blues is a disco-y bluesy (yep, I'm making up my own words) ass shaking dance party with a lot of horns and a lot of energy.

Me: How can you party and have the blues at the same time?

Andy: Because lets face it, everybody at least once in there lives have had the blues (how do we know what happiness is if we don't know what sadness is). Instead of being depressed about it, let's celebrate it. I feel the only way to get through the hurt is to dance it off and live in the moment.

Me: So, who did you listen to growing up? Who are your main influences?

Andy: When I was 16 or so I loved Something Corporate, Al Green, Marvin Gaye and Damien Rice but my main influences as of today has really been 1970 songwriters like Jackson Browne, BB King, Leon Russell, Van Morrison, Bobby D and The Band.

Me: You have played with some very impressive people, Andy... Leon Russell, Butch Walker and even John Mayer. How did those instances happen, Andy? Who was your favorite musician you have ever played with?

Andy: Yeah it's pretty nuts. A lot of them were quite random. For example, we showed up to a gig in New York City... never really played in the Big Apple before and the promoter said when we got there, "Oh, by the way John Mayer is going to be opening for you." I guess he wanted to try out new material to show that wasn't promoted to well. Nuts. But the best experience I had was with Leon Russell. I was shell shocked when I first saw him at sound check. I couldn't say a word (and for me that's quite unusual) but he is the most humble man on this planet when he came up to me. My life has never been the same.

Me: Very fucking cool. Is there anybody you haven't played with that you would love to?

Andy: I would love to open for Dave Matthews, Van Morrison or Buddy Guy.

Me: When you were a teenager you used to manage and promote bands. How did you get into that, Andy?

Andy: One of my biggest mentors Richard Reines, owned this label Drive Thru Records. I thought it was the coolest thing since Swiss cheese. I faked my age so I can fold t-shirts in the merch store then Richard gave me the opportunity to start booking some of his bands.

Andy: Yeah, I love mentoring people. These days I'm mostly focused on teaching new up and coming bands how to book tours and manage themselves so they do not have to rely on others to do their dirty work.

Me: I have to ask you about your previous album "Love, You're Just Too Expensive." There's a great story where you got that album title, wanna tell it?

Andy: Well, I was in love with this girl who I met in Oklahoma a few years back while we were gigging the Midwest. It was on and off thing for 2 years but then she decided to move to Italy for a new job. Well, my Woody Allen, paranoid mind, thought that if I didn't fly to Italy and tell her how I felt then she'll probably just runaway with some Italian Stallion and I'll never be able to see her again. So I flew to Italy to try and ask her to marry me. Well, that didn't work out as I planned. I came back with a broken heart and 6 dollars left in my pocket. That's why I called the album "Love, You're Just Too Expensive."

Me: You have a band called The U.N., how long have you had that band?

Andy: The U.N. keeps on changing. I'm for sure a commitment phobe. I guess for about 6 years now... I can't believe they lasted that long with my paranoid mind.

Me: What does U.N. stand for? Is it the obvious? United Nations. I am guessing you are to clever for that.

Andy: The U.N. basically stands for how music as a language is quite universal. From music I found my brothers and they are from around the world. We all met on the road so I felt like it was fare to call them the U.N.

Me: Andy, congrats on winning the musician of the year at Sundance Film Festival a fews years ago. I didn't know they had such an award. what did you win and what was Sundance like?

Andy: Yeah, it was pretty amazing, we were announced the best live act that performed at Sundance. The festival is one of my favorites because its quite small and its in Park City (which is awesome)

Me: Did you meet any cool people there?

Andy: I got to Meet Morgan Spurlock. That was really awesome.

Me: Who were you up against?

Andy: A lot of local Utah bands and few headliners.

Me: I have to ask you this, you always play barefooted? Why?

Andy: Haha.
It's weird I never wear shoes when I perform... I think I'm claustrophobic. That's why we got the pocketed the term barefoot boogie. Maybe it's also because of how dirty my feet get after boogieing at a couple dive bars we play at... LOL.

Me: Alright, on the Phile I ask random questions thanks to Tabletopics. Ready? What one question would you ask a psychic about the future? I wanna know the date I'm gonna die.

Andy: What day will it be where I will have the best I've ever had. I love me some food.

Me: Haha. Me too. Andy, thanks for being on the Phile finally. Come back again soon. All the best. Plug your website,

Well, that does it for another entry of the blog. Thanks to Andy Frasco for a great interview. The Phile will be back next Friday with the kid's from the band Bad Wolf. Spread the word, not the turd. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye.

Not if it pleases me. No, you can't stop me, not if it pleases me. - Graham Parker